{"product_id":"the-silverberg-business-a-novel-9781618732019","title":"The Silverberg Business: a novel","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn 1888 in Victoria, Texas, for a simple job, a Chicago private eye gets caught up in the poker game to end all poker games.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShannon, a Chicago private detective, returns home to Galveston, Texas for a wedding. Galveston’s new rabbi asks Shannon to find Nathan Silverberg, gone missing along with a group of swindlers who claim to be soliciting money for a future colony of Romanian Jewish refugees. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat seems to be a simple job soon pushes Shannon into stranger territory. His investigations lead him to a malevolent white-haired gambler, monstrous sand dune totems, and a group of skull-headed poker players trapped in an endless loop of cards and alcohol, who may be his only means to survive the business. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith \u003ci\u003eThe Silverberg Business,\u003c\/i\u003e Robert Freeman Wexler has delivered a gloriously strange hard-boiled tale that crosses genres and defies expectations.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \"By subverting expectations in both genre and character, Wexler’s  writing continually asked me to look closely, beyond initial  expectations and surface observations—much like a detective must. This  genre-defying novel works at many levels to consider what it means to  live as an outsider in a landscape that holds a dark mirror to our  contemporary era. And it’s not only deeply-layered: it’s a page-turner, a  wild ride, and an immensely enjoyable read. \u003cem\u003eThe Silverberg Business\u003c\/em\u003e is a mystery that kept me thinking about its deeper questions and haunting images long after the case was closed.\" — Melissa Benton Barker, \u003cem\u003eAncillary Review of Books\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \"It’s one of the mostly deeply weird novels I’ve read in some time, at  times hallucinatory and dreamlike, at other times gritty and  naturalistic. We’ve heard a lot in the past several years about  genre-blending or ‘‘cross-genre’’ fiction, but Wexler starts out by  combining two genres that seldom come up in these discussions: the  western and the hard-boiled private eye mystery.\" — Gary K. Wolfe, \u003cem\u003eLocus\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\"Steeped in the early history of Texas’s statehood  and laced with eerie portents of supernatural horror. . . . Wexler keeps  his twisty plot refreshingly unpredictable and endows his  characters—even the non-talking skullheads—with vividly realized  personalities that enliven his surreal, atmospheric tale. This weird  western packs a wallop.\"— \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003cb\u003estarred review\u003c\/b\u003e) \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Shannon isn’t planning to become embroiled in a case while visiting  his family in Galveston, but when his old rabbi asks him to look into a  group of men who might be swindling Jewish refugees, he can’t say no. . .  . In this effective, creeping, weird-western novel, time slips, hands  fold, and something ancient brews. Wexler refuses to give the reader all  of the answers, instead leaving them with a slight, satisfying shiver  and visions of stormy seas.\" — \u003cem\u003eBooklist\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"A weird but oddly convincing creature feature.\"—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEarly reader reactions\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Certainly the strangest book I've ever read, and strangeness is a thing that I take to. The grotesque horrors, the impossibilities, the shifting scenes, Silverberg's skull, the skull-heads, the wooden house that turns into a mansion without the detective finding it particularly odd. It is in fact a book not like anything I've ever read.\"\u003cbr\u003e— John Crowley, author of \u003ci\u003eLittle, Big\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A haunting novel that traverses an American West inhabited by nightmarish characters, human and otherwise, \u003ci\u003eThe Silverberg Business\u003c\/i\u003e evokes the unease of classic weird fiction with a contemporary gloss: William Hope Hodgson’s \u003ci\u003eThe Night Land\u003c\/i\u003e by way of Jim Jarmusch and Cormac McCarthy. Unnerving and unforgettable.” — Elizabeth Hand, author of \u003ci\u003eHokuloa Road\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Robert Freeman Wexler never fails to knock me out, and \u003cem\u003eThe Silverberg Business\u003c\/em\u003e hits like a hurricane—there’s strangeness and beauty on every page. The novel is that rare thing, a weird western that’s truly weird, set in a Texas that’s simultaneously gritty, violent, and real, yet soaked in myth. Don’t miss this.” — Daryl Gregory, author of \u003cem\u003eRevelator\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"This philosophical Jewish-Texan retro-neo-noir—at once detective story, western, and ambling picaresque—is populated by a memorable cast of schemers, toughs, and oddballs, and rendered with a keen eye and ear for detail.\" — J. Robert Lennon, author of \u003ci\u003eSubdivision\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for Robert Wexler’s books\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"An unusual, haunting tale from a distinctive new voice.\" — Lisa Tuttle, \u003cem\u003eLondon Sunday Times\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"This complex, enthralling novel is concerned with relations between art and commerce, and nature and commerce; the importance of the past; the everyday oppression of capitalism; and how art may shape history.\" — \u003cem\u003eBooklist\u003c\/em\u003e (starred review)\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"As buoyant and airy as a center-ring trapeze act.\" — \u003cem\u003ePublisher's Weekly\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Quietly stunning.\" — \u003cem\u003eAsimov's\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"Wexler demonstrates a wonderful touch with his writing: to render Lewis's lengthy inner journey through this dream-state without losing a sense of living, vital immediacy is an extraordinary accomplishment.\"—\u003cem\u003eNew York Review of Science Fiction\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\"A fascinating, deeply bizarre adventure.\"—Faren Miller, \u003cem\u003eLocus\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Small Beer Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51359760220503,"sku":"9781618732019","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781618732019.jpg?v=1754125629","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-silverberg-business-a-novel-9781618732019","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}